Family Day Care Services • www.familydaycare.com

FALL UPDATE 2014

FAMILY DAY

FOCUS

Self-regulation and marshmallows Children who can understand and regulate their own emotions and know how to deal with the emotions of others do better academically and socially.

In the 1960s, Stanford University conducted a research study on self-control with four-year-olds – it was called “the marshmallow test.” The children were told they could have one marshmallow now or if they wait-ed 15 minutes, they could have two marshmallows. The researchers found that only 30 per cent of 600 children tested could hold on for that second marshmallow. In a follow-up study in the 1980s, researchers found that the children who were able to wait were doing better academically. The brain skills necessary to wait for the second marshmallow are known as executive function or self-regulation.

Children can learn to control their urges and change their behaviours as young as the toddler years. Executive function is one of the most important parts of your child’s early brain development, and you are prob-ably already doing lots to support it.

Executive function breaks down into four general skills: 1 attention — focusing it, sustaining it and shifting it when you need to 2 impulse control — the ability to not always do or say the first thing that comes to mind 3 working memory — the ability to hold and use multiple thoughts in your mind 4 planning — being able to plan and carry out a sequence of actions to achieve a goal or solve a problem and adjusting those plans if the situation changes.

Developing these skills is relatively simple according to researchers Stuart Shanker and Adele Diamond. What helps the most are old-fash-ioned, low-tech games and activities. One such activity is pretend play. During pretend play, children must hold their own roles and the roles of others in mind. This activity exercises their working memory. They have to stay in character, which helps with their impulse control, and they need to adjust to the twists and turns in the evolving plot which requires them to think flexibly.

In all Family Day programs, children have many opportunities to take part in pretend play. In order to support the skills of self-regulation, our staff model a six-step approach to solving problems with the children. Over time, the children are able to negotiate these six steps on their own with each other. (See back cover).

This same approach is applicable for all children in all of our programs; however, with the younger children, the adult models more of the language and the process of problem solving. We encourage you to use the six steps at home.

Here’s the really exciting thing — like math and reading, these skills can be taught and learned. They are not genetic. We can all learn how to get more marshmallows!

Congratulations to the 17 staff, friends and family members who took on the Enbridge CN Tower Climb Challenge on Sunday, Oct. 19.

Family Day raised over $1,900 for the United Way of Toronto through the climb.

Thanks to our climbers!

Susanne G., Vanessa G., Margareta R. Bayview Child Care CentreElizabeth C., Eleni P. Collegeside Early Learning Centre Lauren N., Paula N., Melanie S. Esker Lake Child Care CentreJaspreet K.M. Our Lady of Providence Child Care CentreCarolina A.N., Narges S.,

Theresa S., Robelyn S., Leslie T.M., Jason T. Thornhill Ontario Early Years CentreNadine A., Sandip S., Andrea S. Willow Way Child Care CentreCombined, they climbed a total of 31,908 steps. That’s the equivalent of taking the stairs to the Gordon Baker office almost 530 times!

Watch a demonstration of this study on YouTube by searching “Marshmallow test reproduced by Dr David Walsh” or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amsqeYOk--w

On Wednesday, Oct. 22, the Ontario Ombudsman, André Marin, released his Careless about Child Care report, containing 113 recommendations for addressing unregulated child care in the province. This report is an excellent analysis of the many issues that parents face when they make their child care choice. If you are reading this newsletter, it means you have access to licensed child care and services, either through one of Family Day’s centres, or through a home child care provider we partner with. However, there are many families who do not have access to regulated, afford-able child care. For them, the best choice available could be to turn to unregulated child care.

The government is now working to introduce a new law that will deal with many issues related to unregu-lated child care. Those who operate in the unregulated sector may continue to do so. However, the new law would require them to follow the same rules as child care that is licensed. Those in the unregulated sector

who choose to partner with a licensed agency can have their children-to-provider ratio increased.

Family Day supports the work of the government as they attempt to deal with current child care legislation that is over 68 years old, and as they begin to modern-ize the rules under which we all must operate. As an agency, we are proud of our long history of working through change and challenging times in a collabora-tive and positive manner, and we will continue to do so as the new legislation moves through the lawmaking process.

________________Parent Advisory Groups had their first meetings earlier this month at four of our centres. Our staff was thankful for the opportunity to converse with the parents of children in our programs.

________________Family Day has joined the world of social media. Please follow us on our official Twitter account, @familydayGTA.

Message from Joan Arruda, CEO

We can’t be ‘Careless about Child Care’Current child care legislation is 68 years old

In just little under a year, HIGH FIVE curriculum training has spread to over 50 Family Day staff.

Aimed at staff who work with children between the ages of six and 12, HIGH FIVE is the first child care sector standard for programming delivery that emphasizes recreation and sport. Family Day began the process of intro-ducing this unique standard in January, starting by training 14 Family Day staff to serve as instructors for the rest of the organization.

Delivery of the HIGH FIVE curriculum revolves around principles of participa-tion, play, mastery of new skills, friendship and caring adults. Family Day is aiming to have at least 85 per cent of staff trained in HIGH FIVE standards, which will allow the organization to get full HIGH FIVE accreditation. The accreditation further strengthens Family Day’s reputation for leadership in the child care sector, and for high-quality child care programming.

Congratulations to all staff involved in delivering training.

50 staff get thumbs up for completing HIGH FIVE training

Fourfold growth for toddler programs

Spaces have been filling up in our new toddler programs that opened in early fall.

Just four months into their launch, new programs at the St. Bernadette, St. Herbert and Our Lady of Provi-dence centres are already at about half capacity. Similar trends are being reported across the agency’s three regions. At the Thornhill centre, the existing toddler program was expand-ed in September to include a second toddler room in order to keep up with local demand.

Gordon Baker staff grows... The Gordon Baker office is welcoming two new faces:

Linda Saad is now leading the training for all school age and extended staff in York Region and Toronto.

Louis Tam has also joined the office as a Communications Coordinator. ________________

Communications key to supporting challenges with families Earlier this fall, nearly 100 home-based caregivers learned to use the power of communications to support families faced with physical, mental and emotional challenges.

Workshops were run for caregivers in both Peel Region and Toronto, which involved information and discussions on caring for children with ADHD, ways of approaching parents with sensitive or difficult subjects, and supportive means of dealing with parents who have special needs.

In August, the first of these workshops led caregivers through protocols and best practices for communicating with parents with special needs. The second workshop in September led caregivers through the process of giving critical feedback to parents when concerning symptoms or patterns of behaviour are observed in children. The strategies discussed included advice for professionally and respectfully dealing with parents who may feel defensive or offended when approached with sensitive feedback. A third workshop in October was centred on caring for children with ADHD, and the most effective means in which caregivers can support these children in home child care environments.

Caregivers received simple strategies to help them discuss difficult situations in a sensitive way to parents.

save the date... 4th Annual Bowling for Family Day

Bowling for Family Day will take place on Saturday, April 25, 2015.

The two venues are:

Brampton Bowling Centre12 Beech Street, Brampton West of Kennedy Road and

Queen Street East

Markham Bowl5762 Highway 7 East, Unit 11B, Markham At Highway 7 East and Jonquil Crescent

More information

on the event will be released in the

coming months.

A national study slated to shape future research on family life was all ears when staff and families shared their most intimate memories and experi-ences last month.

The discussions took place at the Thornhill Community Centre

on September 13 as part of the “Families in Canada Listening Tour.” The study is run by the Vanier Institute of the Family, a non-profit research institute that promotes well-being for Canadian families. The year-long study will capture many stories from families of many

diversities. It involves collecting videotaped conversations with families across Canada, in which they are asked to share their memories and experi-ences of family life.

Together with informa-tion gathered from other families across

Canada, the stories from Thornhill will be shared by the Vanier Institute. The findings will shape the institute’s future programming for families across Canada, and will be tabled at the Families in Canada Conference in Ottawa next June.

National study learns what family means to Family Day

1 Approach

calmly, stopping any hurtful

actions—————

Place yourself between

children, on their level.

—————• Calm yourself – breathe!• Think positively about outcomes• Watch your tone of voice• Quickly and gently stop any hurting• Do not force the children to look at you.

2 Acknowledge

children’s feelings—————

“You look really upset.”

—————• Place your hands on the disputed objects and say, “I’m going to hold this until we figure out the problem.” Keep the object in view.• Look at each child and use their names.• Name feelings repeatedly until the children are calmer.

3 Gather

information—————

“What’s the problem?”

—————• Ask “what” not “why.”• Listen for details of the problem.

4 Restate

the problem—————“So the

problem is …”—————

• Restate the details that you hear in children’s words.• Reframe any hurtful comment. Set limits on hurtful actions if necessary, nam-ing the feeling message, for example: “Name-calling needs to stop.” Or “You are feel-ing very angry.”

5 Ask for ideas for solutions

and choose one together—————

“What can we do to solve the

problem?”—————

• Encourage children’s ideas for solutions.• Ask other chil-dren if necessary.• When ideas are vague, ask “What will that look like?” or “What will you do?”

6 Be prepared to give follow-up

support.—————

“You solved the problem!”

—————• Describe what the child did that worked, with details.• Check back to make sure the solution is still working.

For countless families, Family Day is the only way!

Family Day Care Services155 Gordon Baker RoadSuite 400Toronto, Ontario M2H 3N5416 922-9556www.familydaycare.com

Our Programs•LicensedHomeChildCare•ChildCareCentres•SchoolAgePrograms•ResourcePrograms•OntarioEarlyYearsCentresinTorontoEast, YorkRegionandtheRegionofPeel

Family Day Focus NewsletterWriter: Valerie McDonaldDesignandproduction:WISHART.NETContributors:JoanArruda,DianeDaley,LisaShortall,LouisTam

United WayMember Agency

6 Steps to Resolving Conflict